This invention relates generally to two-way mailers making it possible for a company to forward to a customer a statement of charges and for the customer to remit, and more particularly to a one-piece, two-way mailer assembly constituted by a single blank which is formed into superposed panels that not only define the forwarding and return envelopes but also the statement and a return stub to accompany payment.
It is customary for a large company such as a telephone company, an electric power utility, a large department store, or for that matter any other commercial facility which sells goods or renders services to a multiplicity of customers, to bill each customer on a monthly or other periodic basis.
It has heretofore been the practice for the company to enclose a statement of charges in a forwarding envelope addressed to the customer. The statement is generally in the form of a card having a transverse perforation forming a stub identifying the account and the amount owing. Also inserted in this envelope is a return envelope for payment, as well as advertising folders and other types of material relating to the company's business. The customer receiving this pack of material is expected to send back his payment check and the stub section of the statement in the return envelope.
While the preparation of bills for customers and the addressing of the forwarding envelopes are now carried out by high-speed computer techniques, it has heretofore been necessary to employ special machines for stuffing the forwarding envelope with the statement of charges, the return envelope and the other material forming the pack. This is not only a time-consuming and costly operation, but because of machine or human error, it gives rise to troublesome mistakes. One may, however, minimize the possibility of inserting a statement intended for one customer in an envelope addressed to another customer by printing his address on the bill itself and inserting the bill with the address exposed in a window-type envelope. But such envelopes are more costly than ordinary envelopes and machine insertion is still required.
In order to avoid the need for separate forwarding and return envelopes, it is known to provide convertible envelopes which carry out both functions, such as those disclosed in the following patents: Nos. 2,759,658; 2,887,944; 3,184,150 and 3,111,336. But the making of envelopes of this type cannot be carried out on a low-cost, continuous basis. Moreover, it is still necessary with such envelopes to separately prepare and insert the statement of charges.
With a statement in card form of the type heretofore known, only a limited amount of space is available in which to list the charges, for a portion of the card is reserved for use as a return stub. In some instances, therefore, the charge space is inadequate, and it becomes necessary to annex a second statement to complete the charges. Special handling is required in these situations, and this adds to the cost of billing.